掉队

• Pinyin: diào duì
• Hanzi breakdown: 掉 = 扌+ 卓 (to drop, fall behind); 队 = 阝+ 人 (team, formation, group)

Meaning

To fall behind; to drop out of a group or fail to keep pace with others. To lag behind in progress, development, or movement.

Used both literally — falling behind a marching group or hiking party — and figuratively for lagging behind peers in knowledge, technology, or economic development. Common in educational, economic, and social commentary. Carries a mildly negative connotation of being left behind.

Examples

1. 长途拉练过程中，几名体能较差的新兵逐渐掉队，班长不得不放慢步伐等候他们跟上。 During the long-distance field training, several new recruits with weaker stamina gradually fell behind, and the squad leader had to slow down and wait for them to catch up.
2. 在全球数字化转型的浪潮中，那些迟迟不肯革新的传统企业已经明显掉队，前景令人担忧。 In the wave of global digital transformation, traditional companies that refuse to reform have clearly fallen behind, and their prospects are worrying.
3. 她病了一个月，功课严重掉队，返校后花了整整两周时间才勉强赶上班里其他同学的进度。 She was sick for a month and fell far behind in her coursework; after returning to school, it took her a full two weeks to barely catch up with the rest of the class.

Usage Guide

Context: education, business, military, social commentary

Tone: negative

Do Say

• 如果不及时跟进最新的技术动态，工程师很容易在快速迭代的行业竞争中掉队，丧失职业竞争力。(If engineers fail to keep up with the latest technological developments in time, they can easily fall behind in a rapidly iterating industry and lose their professional competitiveness.)
• 这个地区经济发展迟缓，在全省综合发展排名中持续掉队，亟需精准的政策扶持与资源倾斜。(This region's economic development is sluggish — it has consistently lagged behind in the province's overall development rankings and urgently needs targeted policy support and resource prioritisation.)

Don't Say

• 我在队伍里掉队了 — 掉队 already implies falling behind from a group; 在队伍里 is redundant; simply say 我掉队了

Origin & History

掉 (to fall, drop behind) + 队 (team, group, formation)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal